Art Theory For Beginners by Richard Osborne

Art Theory For Beginners Reviews

• 
  Tamara

  This was a really good introduction to art theories. Wow! I must say I barely understood the theories in the last part of the book, they were so complicated, but I shall persist!
• 
  Sean van Dril

  This really is an excellent book if for nothing else, for showing how vast of a scholarly field art theory is. In few pages, this book covers an enormous amount of information. Although each art-era section is quite short, they give you sufficient detail to have something to grasp onto for future study. By no means will you be an expert in art theory after reading this book (as the title suggests), but you will have an awfully good starting point to delve deeper into art theory.
• 
  Nellie Mitchell

  Awesome companion to my really hard art theory text book. This is funny and I love all the little drawings included in this book.
• 
  Anindya

  Art theory is a very wide canvas that stretches across multiple dimensions and given the turn that modern art has taken - the subject has become even wider. The book is ideal for an Art theory beginner who is interested in the subject - it helps you flavour the spread of the ideas and philosophies that have shaped the evolution of art - and build appreciation what you want to deep dive therefrom.
• 
  Emily

  Does exactly what it advertises on the cover! An interesting, easy to follow basic history of art that covers main theoretical points. Includes great guides for further reading throughout and who doesn't love cartoons?
• 
  Natalie ♡

  It was actually interesting and it got me an A in my class so that’s even better! <3
• 
  Graham

  I’d like to give this book more, and if it had been loved by the publishers more it would have been superb.
  As it is, there are a plethora of typos, unfinished sentences, and a distinct lack of example and detail. The pictures are black and white sketches and it was necessary on several occasions to grab the iPad and look what these pictures looked like. The book, although for beginners, expected you to know various artworks, which was a shame.
  This is useful to give you the words and names of various artists and philosophers, but very much done on the cheap. Be prepared to get up frequently and study “The Art Book” or similar repository of coloured gorgeousness.
  You will start off simply, getting to easy grip with the Greeks and so forth, but once you reach the middle of the 19th century you will be astounded by the mushrooming of ideas, each of which could very well be merely a subspecies of a previous idea, but with the fancy dancy words which over complicate.
  I am sure such fine divisions existed in Greek times, and much wine was drunk debating the finer points of exactly what differentiates an Ionic from a Doric column, but subtleties are lost in time.
  No wonder people get confused with art historians!
• 
  Alex Rendall

  A good introduction to art theory, as you can guess from the title. Even so, I found some of the concepts quite difficult to grasp. The illustrations did help with elucidating some of the points, but I think it definitely just whets the appetite.
• 
  David W.

  Sorry. The font choice is awful and the text is ridden with clerical errors like the absence of brackets in the birth and death years of historical figures.
• 
  Zhi Zhi

  Nice
• 
  Christen

  Moderately amusing and easy to understand. Its really good for people who arent familiar with art theory but also for those interested in finding out general info about time periods or writers they are curious about as well. An entertaining read
• 
  A

  This book turned out to be less interesting and less informative than I though it would be, but then again it does say "for beginners."
• 
  Shishir

  Excellent synopsis of Western Art and philosophy behind each art type transition in history
• 
  Flo

  El planteo de los temas es coherente y llevadero, las ilustraciones son bastante mediocres y la traducción es muy mala.